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Tuesday, January 21, 2014

FRESH AND STRONG STRONG AS NORMAN CIDER

Medieval
historiography, in general, tends to disregard women. That is one of
the reasons why Patricia Bracewell's new novel, SHADOW ON THE CROWN,
is an important book. Undeterred by he paucity of documentation on
her subject, Bracewell set out to blend a mix of fact and fiction
that makes Emma of Normandy leap from the page and engage the reader
as only strong and intelligent women can. As the story opens, she is
just a teenager who worries about her horse.

Enter Danish warlord
Swein Forkbeard and his marauding troops. He asks for winter harbour
and once Emma's brother, Duke Richard, ruler of Normandy, grants it,
Forkbeard proceeds to make himself at home in the ducal palace. He
has twelve ships. Richard has neither the military power to repulse
his unwelcome guests nor the wish to damage a cozy trade in
plundered English goods. The real problem is fellow Christian
Aethereld, whose realm the heathen Vikings raid regularly regularly.
Richard's relationship with the Dane irks him. It might irk him into
declaring war on Normandy. What to do but dangle offer nubile Emma
as a sop? No one cares much how Emma feels about being married
off--bartered might be a more precise term--at age fifteen to an
aging man with some serious mental problems. Those were the times and
that was European women's lot.

Although trapped
into a life of obedience to a madman, Emma is determine to do the
best she can. Noblesse oblige and there is te fate of Normandy to
consider. Her job is not easy. Mad—or perhaps seriously tetched--
Aethereld has a gaggle of sons., Emma's safety depends on her ability
to produce yet princeling. At the same time, adding a competitor
for throne to the existing gaggle will not endear her to anyone. But
that becomes a mt point when her first child is stillborn.

Beset by envious
envy from discarded candidates to Aethereld's bed and truculent
nobles who resent for being a Norman whose mother is Danish, Emma
soldiers on. Following the rule that the tougher the challenges, the
stronger capable women grow, she weathers all manner of storms,
finding bittersweet romance and friendship along the way. The romance
will not be found in historical records, but it makes Emma more
believable and certainly more sympathetic. So do her dealings with
Aethereld's children from previous marriages. Bracewell imbues her
with the qualities so glaringly absent from her consort. The contrast
is vivid and alluring.

Viking raids and
Aethereld's ill-conceived consent to the Saint Brice's Day Massacre
in which scores Danes residing in England perished, provide a
riveting counterpoint to Emma's evolution from green girl into a
capable monarch. Women's ascent to power is one of the least
explored aspects of the European Middle Ages. So is the point of view
of Scandinavians who made England their home. Bracewell takes all
these details, arranges them appealing and makes them count without
ever burdening the narrative. The result is a story as fresh and
crisp as the taste of the apple cider for which Emma's home country
is known. SHADOW ON THE CROWN is the first volume of a trilogy. I
look forward to subsequent volumes.

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